In a normally quiet corner of upmarket West Jerusalem, almost 300 members of the city’s Anglo-Jewish community joined a raucous election debate three weeks before they will cast their ballots in Israel's general election on October 27.
The crowd at the sold-out event was partly secular but mainly religious. The VIP front seats hosted politicians, their aides, doyens of the city’s pro-Israel PR industry and a British-Israeli rabbi and pundit whose wife and two daughters were killed in a Palestinian attack in the occupied West Bank in 2023.
They were there to cheer and, on rarer occasions, jeer the 10 candidates from across the spectrum of Zionist politics on stage. Their reactions gave a clear indication of where this influential Israeli community stands, one that plays a disproportionately important role in how Israel is viewed abroad at a time when its international popularity is in sharp decline.
Israel’s problems are not merely external. Three years of war have pushed the economy into uncertainty and stress is palpable on the streets during a short walk to the shops, even before you see the price of milk.
Yet the panellists had little to say about the cost of living and nothing about the crisis in the country’s education system. The message for politicians by the end of the evening was clear: to grab the attention of voters by talking incessantly about security, enemies, settlements and the need for defiance in the face of Israel’s sliding popularity abroad.
The first loud cheers were for Israeli settler and social media personality Yishai Fleisher, a party colleague of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Mr Fleisher lauded Mr Ben-Gvir over the deteriorating conditions for Palestinians in Israeli jails, increasing Jewish worship at Al Aqsa Mosque compound and lowering his car insurance bill, which he linked to a decrease in vehicle thefts.
Leading Israeli rights group B’Tselem has described Israel’s prison system for Palestinians as a “network of torture camps”. Displays of Israeli nationalism at Al Aqsa draw criticism from the international community, which fears changes to the decades-long status quo could cause major unrest. Other crime statistics have worsened under Mr Ben-Gvir’s tenure – the murder rate among Arab Israelis in particular.
“Is Ben-Gvir hurting our international reputation? The genocide [in Gaza] narrative is, but is that Ben-Gvir? No!” Mr Fleisher said. “They find enemies all the time and try to take us down around the world. Here comes one guy who is talking straight and strong, who the enemies are afraid of – and that’s a good thing.
“Ben-Gvir, you can like him or not like him, but you don’t have to marry your daughter to him, you don’t have to invite him over for Shabbos lunch. He’s a hammer. He gets things done.”
The most left-wing candidate in attendance, Moran Zer Katzenstein of The Democrats, received moderate applause for her work on women’s rights. She was also the candidate who received the loudest jeer, which came when she challenged audience members who appeared to support expelling the population of Gaza.
“You can clap if you think this is what Jewish morality is,” Ms Zer Katzenstein said after the jeering. The audience did exactly that – what followed was one of the longest and most passionate bursts of applause of the night, with bellows of support across the room.
Another of the panellists, Moishe Feiglin of the Zehut party, recently called for the total expulsion of Gazans by any means necessary in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.
He suggested even Gaza's infants were enemies: “The baby that will be born in Gaza tomorrow will do exactly the same, God forbid, to your baby that will be born tomorrow in Jerusalem. There’s no other way. That’s the reason they live for. That’s what they learn with their mother's milk.”
A bounce in opinion polls suggests Mr Feiglin’s party could win five to six seats in the 120-member Knesset. The faction is in a right-wing alliance with the Religious Zionist Party led by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who was recently filmed boasting about Israel’s occupation of a huge part of southern Lebanon, saying “the world is not stopping us”.
Although many parties were present, the event did not paint a complete picture of Israeli politics. The two main ultra-Orthodox parties spurned their invitations. The bitter debate around enlisting ultra-Orthodox young men into the Israeli military was raised but received surprisingly little attention given dire warnings about a lack of manpower.
Israeli-Arab parties, which were recently battling disqualification in the Supreme Court, were not represented. The only Palestinian mentioned at length was Yoseph Haddad of Amcha Israel, a combative pro-Israel influencer.
Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar Party, currently the most powerful opposition party, is accused by the far right of being a backdoor for Arab parties to enter an opposition coalition. At the event, Amichai Chikli, from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, accused Mr Eisenkot of dangerously viewing Syria’s President Ahmad Al Shara as an “opportunity” for Israel.
Much of the energy of the opposition parties was taken up defending the record of their candidates, many of whom have been in the Israeli political system for years. Mati Gill of Naftali Bennett’s party was asked why voters should trust its members after its leader’s turbulent political career. That career has attracted accusations of hypocrisy and broken promises, including from the settler community, which he used to represent as head of a settlers' group called the Yesha Council.
Mr Gill said Mr Bennett’s ideals had not changed since he entered politics. The message does not appear to be cutting through. With so little time until elections, the former prime minister continues a steady decline in the polls.
Despite bitter moments, the conclusion was a festival of politeness, featuring a resounding rendition of the national anthem and far-right candidates praising even Ms Zer Katzenstein.
Those in attendance who wanted to learn more about plans for the economy, education, the environment and infrastructure would have left disappointed at the end of the two-hour session. They did not seem downcast, however, despite the challenges Israel faces in all those areas.
Once again, it seems Israeli voters will head to the polls with security on their minds and the many extreme aspects that priority has come to embody.
